Coal prices force Philippines power company to look for long-term fuel contracts.
Plus: Australian union wants inflation-linked wage increases, while in China, talk of government-devalued yuan continues to heat up. Power shortages in China and South Africa may drive aluminum prices once again.
Energy
Reporter Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo submits to The Manila Times: “State-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) is looking at securing half of its generating plants’ fuel requirements through long-term contracts to help lower the Philippines’ electricity rates, considered the second highest in Asia next to Japan.” Then: “The company said the world coal supply situation worsened after China became a net coal importer, and Japan shifted to coal following its decommissioning of some of its nuclear plants in the wake of an earthquake.” Go to article.
Inflation watch
Writers for The Australian report: “Unions NSW won't rule out seeking a wage rise for its members linked to inflation rather than productivity. The Federal Government and business want to guard against inflation-linked wage rises, which could push the cost of goods and services even higher. In the current inflationary environment, they would prefer to see any wage rises linked to productivity improvements.” Go to article.
Currency
Wu Zhong, China Editor for Asia Times Online, writes: “Until last week, it had been a general belief among financial investors and speculators that the Chinese currency, the yuan, would continue to appreciate particularly against the US dollar at least for the next couple of years. That faith is being undermined by market talk that the Chinese government might reverse its course of the past two years and deliberately devalue the currency.” Go to article.
Metals
Pratima Desai writes for South Africa’s Business Report: “Power shortages in China and South Africa may disrupt aluminium output again in the next few months, pushing the price of the metal to record highs. Energy-intensive aluminium production was curtailed earlier this year because of power outages in both countries, helping prices on the London Metal Exchange to spike through the key level of $3 000 (R23 300) a ton.” Go to article.
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